Flood buyout demolition contract awarded for former Plymouth Township diner and strip club

A demolition bid was approved Tuesday for structures on three flood buyout parcels, including the fire-damaged former Flamingo Diner and now closed Elite Club 4 Play Gentlemen’s Club on Route 11 in Plymouth Township.

The buyouts/demolitions are part of an ongoing, federally-funded flood mitigation program managed by the Luzerne County Flood Authority that is linked to the Wyoming Valley Levee-raising project completed in the early 2000s.

Authority board members voted Tuesday to award the $75,000 demolition and site stabilization contract to low-bidder A.R. Popple Trucking and Excavating in Kingston Township. Authority Deputy Director Laura Holbrook said the structures should be torn down by the end of May.

A buyout parcel at 175 Route 11 contains three structures — the former Flamingo Diner, which was significantly damaged by fire in January 2020, the Riverview Inn and a multi-unit residential building.

Located next door at 94 W. Poplar Street, the second parcel also has an address of 165 Route 11 and houses the former strip club. The business was previously identified as the Tilbury Inn and later the Carousel Club, according to prior published reports.

The remaining buyout property is a residential structure at 95-97 Italy St. in the Mocanaqua section of Conyngham Township.

All properties were damaged by record Susquehanna River flooding in September 2011, said Holbrook, who has noted the Riverview Inn and Elite Club 4 Play property were completely underwater.

Government entities must agree to own and maintain buyout properties and keep them undeveloped.

Levee wall

The authority board also approved a $158,000 contract with Solid Wall LLC to replace deteriorating expansion joints on the 1.46-mile levee stretch between the county courthouse and the intersection of Riverside Drive and Pickering Street in Wilkes-Barre.

This levee section contains nearly 21,000 linear feet of expansion joints that are two decades old and at the end of normal service life. The sealant-filled joints allow the levee concrete cover to expand and contract and prevent cracks.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had identified the joints as a deficiency in past levee inspections, said authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman.

Belleman said he thoroughly vetted the Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania-based Solid Wall, which was the low bidder, and received only positive reviews.

This work will be covered by county council’s February 2022 American Rescue Plan earmark of up to $8 million for flood authority projects.

Levee maintenance garage

Another American Rescue-funded project is nearing completion — rehabilitation of a structure the authority acquired from Hanover Township to serve as a downstream levee maintenance garage storing grass-cutting equipment and levee electrical components, Belleman said Tuesday.

This Delaney Street property will speed up levee maintenance in the township, Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre because crews won’t have to work solely from the Forty Fort maintenance garage, he said.

A UGI gas line is scheduled for installation the first week of April, which means the building should be ready for occupancy by mid- to late April, Belleman said.

If scheduling remains on track, the authority board may hold its April 16 meeting in the building along with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Edwardsville fence

The authority is finalizing an application with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, or PUC, to make the Edwardsville levee railroad crossing public, with plans to formally submit the request by the end of this month, Belleman told the board Tuesday.

Authority officials are pursuing this option because it may address unpopular railroad crossing fencing that interrupts the recreational path atop the flood-control system.

A public crossing designation would allow the PUC to assist the authority and railroad in identifying a solution that meets current safety requirements. The Edwardsville crossing meets the parameters of a public crossing because it passes through a publicly-owned levee used by pedestrians and bicyclists, the authority has said.

Other solutions could include updated signs, pavement markings and arm gates that block the path when trains are coming through.

Fencing was installed last April to stop the public from crossing an intersecting, active Norfolk Southern Railway train line.

Norfolk Southern, which owns the land containing the track, required the fencing as part of an agreement granting permission for the authority to modify the crossing so a gate system could be quickly set up when the Susquehanna rises, eliminating the need for more than 1,500 sandbags, the authority said.